Atlanta Falcons running back Warrick Dunn has challenged every NFL player on every team except for the New Orleans Saints to donate $5,000 to hurricane relief efforts. Speaking on ESPN, he said Atlanta Falcons players alone will contribute at least $260,000. (The NFL itself has pledged $1 million.) This isn't enough to make me a Falcons fan, but it impressed me as a commendable and noble commitment.

For those who don't know it, Dunn, a graduate of FSU, lost his mom while he was in college. She was a New Orleans police officer killed in the line of duty.

Since his mom was single at the time of her death, Dunn has since supported of all of his siblings, and now has a foundation which provides needy single mothers with fully furnished homes. He is one fine human being who has become a favorite in Atlanta not just because of his great performance as a running back.

Not to nitpick, but just help identify Dunn better: His mother was shot and killed while he was in high school. She was a police officer in Baton Rouge, and was killed while working an extra shift as bank security, in order to support her large family. I believe that Dunn was the oldest child, and supported a number of younger siblings.

I knew him in high school, which is to say that I was a classmate and knew who he was. And the grace whith which he handled his mother's death at 17 years old (or so) struck me as remarkable. He has always been a model of kindness and humility for those around him.

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" is no way to run an economy, but it's an excellent way to judge generosity. The proposed donation of $5000 is less than 0.5% of the average 2004 Atlanta Falcons player salary ($1.2 million.)* I don't discount such generosity as the players have shown, but I dislike seeing them lauded for giving such a proportionally small amount. There are few with greater ability to give than NFL players (among those few, of course, are NFL owners), and many of them HAVE given generously to charities. However, I can at this time think of none with greater need than those who have lost all.